CINCINNATI, June 25 (UPI) — A diet high in fructose, sucrose and trans-fats increases obesity risk as well as fatty liver disease with scar tissue, U.S. researchers warn.

The study’s main author Dr. Rohit Kohli, a gastroenterologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues conducted the study in a mouse model of obesity and liver disease that closely models human disease.

“Fructose consumption accounts for approximately 10.2 percent of calories in the average diet in the United States and has been linked to many health problems, including obesity, cardiovascular disease and liver disease,” Kohli said in a statement. “We’ve developed a mouse model that is very close to human disease, allowing us to better understand the process involved in the development and progression of obesity-related fatty liver disease.”

The study had some mice fed a normal diet of rodent chow and some a 16-week diet of fructose, sucrose-enriched drinking water and trans-fat solids.

The study found mice fed the normal calorie chow diet remained lean and did not have fatty liver disease, but mice fed trans-fat alone or a combination of trans-fat and high fructose became obese and had fatty liver disease.